Just as with so many family adventures, planning, prepping, and organizing food for ski days can feel like a huge task and hurdle, on top of all of the other planning and gear organization that goes along with awesome adventures.
While it’s easy to throw together the quickest options as you get out the door for skiing, getting a ski day food system in place, and putting a bit of thought and prep into food and drinks for ski days can help you all stay warm, happy, and nourished and can save your family lots of money on ski lodge food.
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Building Your Ski Day Food Systems
Before we jump into options for snacks, meals, and drinks for ski days, let’s first look at how we get all this food from home to hill. When you are already packing and hauling everyone’s ski gear, adding meals and snacks to the mix goes much more smoothly with organizational systems that work for your family.
Containers for Food
You might already have kid’s lunchboxes for school or adventures. Of course, you can use those for ski days if you are packing cold food! If not, start by taking a look at our comprehensive post on lunchboxes for outdoorsy kids. You’ll find reviews and information on a huge variety of TMM team-tested lunchboxes and bags, from the popular Bentgo and PlanetBox, to less common Sistema containers and OmieBox.
To add extra warmth to your ski days, consider investing in individual insulated Thermos food jars.
Containers for Drinks
If you love using the lodge as your base on ski days, you can keep your hot drink system simple by bringing your packet of cocoa or cider, or a tea bag and using a cup and hot water from the lodge. To reduce waste, consider bringing camping mugs, or your favorite everyday to-go coffee cup.
If you prefer to use your car as a base, or have all your food and drinks pre-made for the day, it’s worth investing in a good quality insulated thermos. We would recommend the Thermos brand Stainless King Beverage Bottle or the Stanley Classic Legendary Bottle.
Organizing It To-Go
Keeping your organizational systems as streamlined as possible can help your ski day food prep process run smoothly and feel less taxing! Packing ski day food takes more than packing daily lunches or a family picnic, but less than prepping and packing food for a camping trip. Not every system makes sense for every family, so here are a couple to consider and try out.
- For families that use the car as a base: Use two structured, reusable grocery bags. One is for your ‘vital fuel’- lunch and water bottles. A second is used for extras- snacks, hot drink setup, dishes. At the end of the day bag one is packed with any leftovers that are going home and bag two is packed with any dishes that need washed, and trash. You might also consider the Flat Pack Collapsible Picnic Basket, with a lid that doubles as a small picnic table- or the REI Co-op Trailgate 45 Tote. Remember to tuck in extra Ziplocks for trash, and a washable bag for any dirty dishes.
- For families that use the lodge as a base: Use a structured backpack specifically for food. This might be an everyday backpack or day hike pack from home, or something designated for toting your ski day (or picnic!) food, like the REI Co-Op Cool Trail Split Pack Cooler. Pack your pocket food on the top to grab and go easily, and your lodge break food below. Anything that needs to stay cold in a toasty lodge can be packed in the cooler section of the pack.
Best Ski Day Food and Drinks
From easy-grab snacks to motivate and fuel kiddos, to meals that appeal to young skiers while still packing a punch nutritionally, here are our team’s favorites for ski day food.
Food for Vital Fuel
Skiing or snowboarding, and staying warm doing it, requires a lot of energy for both kids and adults. I am continually shocked at just how much food we bring skiing as a family of four. And we usually don’t come home with tons left over!
Here is a general breakdown of what to bring, and some ideas for each, to keep everyone fueled and happy for a day on the slopes. Ski day timelines are of course different for every family. My family lives 45 minutes from our ski area, and I have two young children, so we tend to leave mid-morning and ski in the afternoons when temps are a bit higher. Some families leave with the rising sun. Some families pack in full days. Some families night ski.
Thinking about your family’s personal timeline will help you choose which meals and snacks you need to pack. Meal and snack schedules might roughly align with your kid’s normal eating schedule, especially if you pack high protein and high calorie food, but always bring extra to keep everyone fueled and avoid hungry ski lodge splurges!
Breakfast and/or Morning Snack
If your family is one that heads for the hill before the sun rises, these ideas might suit you for breakfast in the car. If you eat breakfast at home, try these for a mid-morning snack once you arrive and before you gear up.
- Pre-made breakfast burritos to microwave
- Pre-made breakfast casserole, warmed and stored in a food Thermos
- Store-bought yogurt smoothies
- Store-bought individual oatmeal cups
- High protein granola bar (like Clif bars) with fruit
- Pre-heated frozen high protein waffles
- Instant grits or instant oats to heat at the lodge
Lunch and Dinner
Packed lunch, or sometimes dinner, on ski days can take three basic forms: cold food in lunch boxes, hot food in a Thermos, food that needs hot water from the lodge. Your family might also love to pack a lunch you can store in your jacket pockets. Here are a couple of the TMM team favorites. As you pack, be sure to include high protein and high calorie options for sustained energy.
For the Lunch Box
No need to overcomplicate things as you pack lunch. Your kid’s favorite lunch box food can be a big comfort on a chilly ski day! Here a few of our favorite balanced options for energy.
- PBJ with a cheese stick and apple slices
- Lunch meat sandwich or wrap with fruit and trail mix
- Snacky charcuterie lunch- fruit and veggies with lunch meat and cheese and crackers
- Hummus and veggie pinwheels with fruit and trailmix
If you plan to keep your sandwich in a chest pocket as you ski, try toasting the bread for a sturdier, less squashed sandwich!
Hot Food from Home
- Pre-heated chili or soup in a Thermos
- Pre-heated chicken pot pie casserole in a Thermos
- Pre-heated burrito bowl in a Thermos
- Pre-heated mac and cheese in a Thermos
Food to Mix at the Lodge
- Instant Ramen Cups
- Instant grits or instant oats
- Microwaveable burritos (Be sure to check before going if the lodge has a public microwave. Not all do!)
Pocket Food
What kind of pocket food you pack certainly depends on your family’s ski day style, and the setup of your ski area. We have little kids that like to take a lot of breaks, and our ski area is a small one where all runs lead to one base where we can keep our food.
So, our pocket food tends to be more snack-y and less of the vital fuel; we head back to the car or lodge for that. For families that ski at big resorts, and ski longer with less breaks, having high-protein and high-calorie pocket foods is an essential part of fuel for the day. Whatever your family ski style is right now, consider some of these high protein foods for sustained energy.
- High protein granola bars like Clif Bars
- Jerky, meat sticks, or salami
- Cheese sticks or Babybel cheese
- Trail Mix
- Nut butter-filled pretzels
- Sandwich made with pre-toasted bread
Special Snacks to Motivate
In my family there are snacks that are reserved almost exclusively for adventures. We stash them with our outdoor gear instead of in our food cupboards, and for ski days these special treats are used for chairlift ‘power up’ snacks and extra motivation- one of our favorite games is ‘follow the fruit snack’ when our kids are practicing turning! Over the past few years we have also noticed how much our kids look forward to these snacks that aren’t in their everyday rotation. Here are a few of our favorites.
- Fruit snacks and fruit leathers
- Mini M&Ms in the tube for pocket storage, easy eating, and less choking risk
- Peanut M&Ms, chocolate-covered almonds, peanut butter cups
- Mini cookies
- Dried mango or banana chips
Hydration and Special Drinks
Just as with any sport, staying hydrated on ski days is super important, but lugging around water bottles is not very realistic. We bring water bottles for the car, and use a combination of other gear for on-the-go hydration.
- Collapsible water bottle for water in your pocket
- Hydration pack for water. Your kids can each wear their own, or sip from the parents’.
- Thermos of tea, hot chocolate, or hot cider with camping mugs
- Rehydration tablets, like Nuun Sport Hydration Electrolyte Tablets
Tips and Tricks
Packing food and drinks for big ski days can feel like an overwhelming way to kick off your weekend. Here are a few tips to keep in mind to make it simpler.
- Stock up on ‘special ski snacks’ at the beginning of the season, and keep them with your ski gear so they are not getting eaten on a regular basis and are easy to grab when you grab gear.
- Stock up on your preferred hot drink for ski days at the beginning of the season.
- Gather all the dishes you will be packing and bringing, including lunch boxes and the Thermos, the night before. Put it in one spot on the counter.
- Pack what you can the night before.
- Have a designated “food liaison” in your family for ski days! In my family, I am always on food and snow clothes duty and my husband is on gear duty. We crosscheck each other quickly once everyone is in the car. This is our system for adventures in all seasons (mom on food and clothes, dad on gear), and it works very well for us!
Non-Food Gear for Ski Day Eating
If you plan to eat in the lodge, at outdoor tables, or on the chairlift you can probably skip most of this. If you are a family who prefers to use your car as a base lodge, bringing these few items can really level-up your mobile base camp experience!
- Winter picnic blanket
- Crazy Creek chairs or small camp chairs
- Roll up camp table
- Paper towels and wipes
- Extra Ziplocks for trash
Repacking for Easy Clean Up
Packing enough food to keep everyone fueled for ski days will inevitably leave you with messy lunchboxes, extra snack trash, and maybe even some dirty dishes.
With young children we have definitely had ski days where we are shoving all the gear and food into the car as quickly as we can as we leave the hill. This usually happens when kiddos are overtired or over-hungry and melting down.
However, disorganization leaving the hill almost always snowballs into more disorganization once we get home. Our best way to combat this with little kids is getting them out of snow gear and cozy in the car with a snack or hot cocoa while we spend a little time organizing before we head home.
As often as we can, this is what we do to make our arrival home easier with all the gear and food.
- Gear gets organized in bins and bags so it’s ready to grab for the next ski day.
- Snack trash is put all in one place so it’s easy to throw away at home. A Ziplock bag works well for this.
- Any dirty dishes get put in a reusable, washable grocery bag.
- Leftovers, like extra snacks and unfinished lunch boxes, go into a separate reusable bag.
Spending ten minutes or so organizing the back of the car before heading home has made a big difference in ending our ski day in a less chaotic way, getting home and being able to unload quickly, and having things ready for the next ski day.
If food for ski days feels like a hurdle for your family, remember that a little forethought goes a long way. It’s very possible to nourish and treat your family at the ski hill, without breaking the bank or losing your sanity before you’ve left the house!
Just as with any adventure, big or small, great food and enough of it is truly a game-changer!
Related articles
- Best Tips to Use Your Car as a Base Lodge for Skiing
- Ten Tips for Family Skiing on a Budget
- Best Kid-Friendly Snacks for Your Adventures
- Tips for Skiing on a Budget
Food for Ski Days and How to Organize It
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